Chapter 296. Liu Shu Wakes Up! [AotSC] (Patreon)

“That was a nice nap~.” 

Liu Shu muttered to herself, her entire body feeling as if it had been watered with a refreshing spring. “Why am I feeling so… renewed? It’s so… strange.”

She searched her mind and tried to remember the last thing that happened. “Ah… Right. I finished assimilating Fortuna and then… and then… Ah.”

The memories of the messages she received flashed in her mind, and her entire mind was immediately shaken. “That… Was that a dream? I should look at my system page.”

The moment she did so, a terrifying barrage of messages flooded her mind.

[Congratulations! You’ve defeated…]

[...You’ve gained 543 Experience Points.]

[...You’ve gained …] 

[...You’ve gained …] 

[You’ve received 4567 damage-]

[<Lignified Tree House> has died battling…]

[<Lignified Town Hall> has died battling…]

[...You’ve gained …] 

[...You’ve gained …] 

….

“STOP!”

All messages instantly stopped. Liu Shu sighed in relief in her mind and then opened her <World Tree Eye>. Her sight immediately expanded, reaching extreme distances. However, she didn’t bother with those far-away places. Liu Shu’s gaze descended on the entirety of Golden Sap City.

The image of the city reached her, and Liu Shu felt her soul shaking for a second. “...What happened?”

The East side of the Golden Sap City was basically razed to the ground. Although enough time had passed and the place had been cleaned, the absent Tree Houses were a clear indication of what happened. Not to mention, the Guardian Trees on the walls had also disappeared.

“Flor and the rest! Are they okay?”

Her gaze scanned the entire Golden Sap City, and she found all of them spread around or below the city. Seeing them walk around the place with calm faces, her soul relaxed. “... They are fine. That’s great.” Liu Shu paused and looked around her, confused. “Hm. Why is everyone looking at me?”

Liu Shu looked in a person’s direction, and that person suddenly kneeled. “L-Lady World Tree! Lady World Tree has awakened!”

‘Huh?’ Liu Shu was confused. ‘How did they know?’

“Liu Shu? Are you awake?”

Hearing Flor’s voice, Liu Shu looked over and saw the Flower Fairy smiling and flying toward her. “Um… Good morning, Flor. What happened?”

The Flower fairy sighed and muttered. “What happened, you ask?” She blinked and asked, confused. “Don’t you have thousands of notifications from the System?”

“Ah. Yes. They were too many, so I just stopped them for a second. It seems that Wisdom has been going on a rampage again! There were so many notifications of dead people.”

Flor deadpanned and asked. “Has your intelligence regressed? It should be quite easy to link the events and reach a conclusion, no?”

Liu Shu protested, her tone teary. “So mean! What did I do for you to be so mean!? QAQ!”

Flor continued flying while she scratched her head. “Sorry. I have been influenced by Wisdom living through you…”

Liu Shu paused and then giggled. “Did you bully Wisdom a lot? Hehehe. Deserved!”

“Ah. No.” Flor shook her head. She finally reached Liu Shu’s branches and landed on one of them. The Flower Fairy looked sideways and smiled faintly. “I forgot to say but… You look really pretty and cute. I love it.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Oh?” Flor’s eyebrow raised, and she smirked. “Have you not looked at yourself?”

“Look at myself…?” Liu Shu was unsure why she needed to do so. However, since Flor told her to, she shifted her view and looked at herself. Once she did so, the World Tree exclaimed. “What is this!? What happened!? Why do I have a head!?”

What Liu Shu saw was her body being exactly the same as before, but now, above her trunk and below her massive canopy, the head and shoulders of a woman could easily be distinguished. Not only that, her trunk was perfectly shaped like that of a curvy and mature woman. The head that appeared had clear facial features, and beyond that, it was adorned with an extremely long and slightly wavy green vine acting like hair, full of flowers. The long and soft-looking green hair dropped down her body until past her waist area.

Moreover, the eyes and expressions on her face were currently visible, but only at a close range. From a distance, her droopy canopy easily hid it. Her eyes were perhaps the most charming of all. They were wooden, like the rest of her body. However, her irises were a glowing, deep green that gave her gaze a profound and imposing touch no one could ignore. 

“That’s… My face?”

Flor chuckled and sat on her shoulder, looking up at her. “Well, if it is not yours, whose? You might even be able to focus and voluntarily move it.” 

The World Tree felt a bit strange having a face to express emotions. Therefore, she blurted. “Can I do the opposite? Not move it regardless of what I am thinking about it?”

Flor’s forehead started perspiring. ‘Is she that against having a face?’ Clearing her throat, she added. “We can try trimming you if you are not happy with your new limb.”

“Trimming…” Liu Shu’s mind flashed with the image of her head being cut. “Ahem. No need to.”

After answering, Liu Shu contemplated for a while and decided to focus on that part of her body. Her senses flowed to the head-like extremity, and then, a strange sensation filled her mind. “Woah~. So many little structures all around it! It’s so… complex. So, what happens if I move this elastic fiber here?”

Liu Shu saw the side of her nose and lip faintly arching. “Hehe, what a silly face. What if I pull more around the same area?”

Flor’s eyebrow twitched when the first clear expression of Liu Shu’s face was one of pure and utter disgust. “... That had to be your first expression, right? Are you disgusted by the World, love?”

“Hehehe.”

The face with the nose and side lip arched upward turned while laughing, creating a creepy and uncanny vibe. When Liu Shu looked at Flor, the Flower Fairy felt like slapping her. “Don’t look at your mother like that!”

Liu Shu was startled and released the tension on those fibers, allowing the face to return to a neutral one. “Ahem.” The World Tree muttered. “I don’t know how you manage to express yourselves so easily. There are so many fibers and other things that I need to control…”

Flor chuckled. “Well. It’s not like we do it manually. It is true that we can fake an expression or purposely do it at will. Still, a natural one lifts and uses the muscles that are needed in the best way and is subconscious. We have probably evolved to do it like so because of how important it is to express yourself to the other party.”

“I see~. Gaining a face and those muscles is difficult.”

Flor smiled faintly as she saw Liu Shu test around and do different expressions. ‘This feeling… Is it this feeling that mothers of other races feel when they see their baby smile for the first time?’ 

Flor touched her chest, feeling her heartbeat. ‘Warm. Peaceful. A sense of happiness and pride fills my heart. My love for her feels like it is increasing even further, if that’s possible.’

Liu Shu felt Flor's gaze and looked over. When she did, she paused as Flor currently had an expression that made her feel strangely sentimental. She had a gorgeous wide smile, and her eyes were locked on her as if nothing else mattered. Liu Shu felt somewhat shy, and then her facial expression shifted.

Flor’s eyes widened slowly as Liu Shu’s facial expression changed to an incredibly charming and gentle, shy smile. This was, in Flor’s opinion, the most beautiful smile she had ever seen in her entire life. Flor sighed in her mind. ‘Oh Dear… How can she be this pretty? It’s like spring has arrived, and the flowers have bloomed.’

Then, as soon as it came, Liu Shu lost the feeling, and her expression returned to a neutral one, breaking the spell she had put Flor under. Flor heard Liu Shu’s happy voice cheer. “Oh? I think I did a nice expression right there!”

“... You did a nice expression, indeed.”

“Was it… Like this?”

Flor’s eyebrow twitched when only the lips arched, creating a terrifying, murderous smile. She stuttered, answering quickly. “T-That’s not it. Please, change your expression.”

“Oh…” Liu Shu made a tongue-clicking sound. “I thought I had it!”

Seeing her mutter and try again, failing spectacularly, Flor couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ll need lots of training before you master expressions. It must come naturally, not with you thinking about it.”

“Hm~. I see.”

After answering, she stopped trying and looked at Flor with an indifferent face. Flor knew that her expression was not there for a reason. However, she couldn’t help but feel her heart skip a beat when Liu Shu blurted out her question. “What happened on the East of our City?”

The cold tone and indifferent expression made Flor gulp. Still, Liu Shu was her cute little daughter, so there was no fear in her heart. She was just surprised at how impactful it was when Liu Shu’s voice had an expression that matched it. She cleared her mind and commented. “We were attacked. Remember that guy called Baron Lorbase? He gathered an army outside of the province and attacked us. They were too strong to keep them at bay on the walls. Hence, we allowed them in so that the City could help us fight them off…”

Seeing the indifferent expression, even if it was not intended, made Flor feel a wave of guilt wash over her. She lowered her head a bit and spoke from the heart. “Sorry, Liu Shu. It was me who ordered doing that. I hope you can forgive me for sacrificing those Trees. I know you were quite fond of them.”

Liu Shu was silent for a moment and looked over to the place where they fought. Her <World Tree Eye> skill and her roots tapped the area, giving her a good idea of the level of destruction. Below the ground, Liu Shu found several decomposing corpses that her roots were absorbing slowly. “... Did Wisdom participate in the war?”

Flor was slightly surprised to be asked that. Regardless, she answered honestly. “She did. She helped us tremendously. Without Wisdom, the damage would’ve been much deeper.”

Liu Shu snorted. “It seems that she didn’t participate enough. Wisdom, explain yourself.”

[Wisdom: Tianlian Liu Shu is the priority. After leaving enough for you to continue your assimilation, I battled using the limited resources I could to protect Golden Sap City.]

Liu Shu sighed. “... Fair enough.” 

She wouldn’t scold Wisdom for that. Wisdom was doing what she was supposed to do. However, what if someone attacked again when she was assimilating Lakeborn? 

“I should leave more resources for Wisdom to work with… Even if that slows me down.”

“Flor? Are you up there?”

Liu Shu looked down and saw Ignatia standing at the bottom of her trunk. “We need to leave in one hour, get ready!” Then, she smiled and added. “Also, good morning my big girl~. How was sleep?”

Liu Shu giggled. “Very good~. Also… Where are you going?”

Ignatia smiled. “A meeting~. Well, I am not going, but Flor needs to go.”

“Oh?”